Bundles

Oh, pick me up, I'm this bundle of sticks
Tied with the stems of clover and brambles
Oh, pick me up, I'm this bundle
Wrapped in shrouds of muscle
And patched with cedars and shadows
Patched for a million miles
And waiting like a praying mantis
To be found by a curious child
Those tiny ones with open-eyed wonder
Like the jaws of a yawning coyote
Or a cactus a-blooming early

And a loving dawn like a mother
And a loving dawn like a mother
And wishing it rained was the answer
And a loving dawn like a mother
And a loving dawn like a mother
And wishing it rained was the answer
And in curious jars we're a-spinning
Spinning, spinning, spinning into sickness
Spinning, spinning, spinning into sickness
And singing for stillness
Spinning, spinning, spinning into sickness
Spinning, spinning, spinning into sickness
And making up a still bed
Making up a still bed
Making up a still bed

So I'm notching my spine with thorns pulled from your thumb
Notching my spine with thorns pulled from your thumb
And I am swallowing my, I'm swallowing my bees down
I'm buckling my, I'm buckling my knees up
I'm eating my own hide to hide in my own skin
I'm eating my own hide to hide in my own skin
'Til I am left a-hanging upside down and draining
Like skinned does a-dangling from a hunter's oak limb
Like my sisters, those does, woven in red shrouds
And wearing bare ribbons of tightly-wrapped muscles
And bearing the burden of being that gift from the forest
That turns humans wooden when opened

So can you, can you, can you tell me?
Can you, can you, can you tell me?
If it's easier to be emptier but lighter
If it's easier to be the lantern or the fire
If it's easier to be a lover or an echo
If it's easier to be the bull or the fighter
And if it's easier to die by arrows or by tigers
If it's easier to fly by monarchs or by sparrows
By monarchs or by sparrows
Let me know

And there's a grizzly bearing in me
There's a grizzly bearing in me
And in you and in us and in we
And in you and in us and in we
Grizzly paws hide me
And grizzly paws hold me
And grizzly cradles me
Raising me like an offering
Of a bundle of sticks to the sun
Of a bundle of sticks to the sun
Of a bundle of sticks to the sun, to the sun

Now I'm sewing sewing sewing medicine bundles
With grass threads and porcupine quills
And I'm filling them up with galaxy beams
And with all the stars you've snuffed
And all the ghosts you've been
And with every shape you've morphed
And all the trees you've stumped
And I'm filling 'em up
With all the blood your heart has pumped and pumped
And with all of the love that your mouth has rushed
And with all of the voices that your ears have rung
And with all of the life that your dirt has sprung
And with all of the magic that your gardens have grown
I'm filling up these bundles with all the seeds
You've sown and sown and sown
And all the roots you've webbed and all the wind
You've blown and blown and blown
All the roots you've webbed and all the wind you've blown
And I'm filling up these bundles with all the twins you've born
And with every brother lost and all the organs you've loaned
With every brother lost and all the organs you've loaned

So, pick us up, we're these bundles
Tied with the stems of clover and brambles
Oh, pick us up, we're these bundles
Wrapped in shrouds of muscles